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Happy and sad music differs across cultures

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New research by Music experts here at Durham has shown that what you feel when you listen to a piece of music could depend on your background.
Our researchers believe they have cracked the code behind how music is emotionally perceived across cultures.


The team discovered that Western associations – in which music in a major key is judged as happy while minor key music is perceived as sad – is strongly influenced by cultural background.

Because I’m happy
In a recent study led by Dr George Athanasopoulos from our Department of Music, people from the UK and two tribes in remote Northwest Pakistan listened to a selection of real and artificial music, including their own, and evaluated them on their emotional content.

The team discovered that Western associations – in which music in a major key is judged as happy while minor key music is perceived as sad – is strongly influenced by cultural background.

Outside of Western culture, the emotional links between happy and sad and major and minor music were quite different, with solemn ceremonies being undertaken to music that Western cultures would perceive as “cheerful”.

The way you make me feel
The findings also provide insights into intriguing cultural variations of how Western-style harmonisations are perceived across cultures and also striking similarities.

It turns out that harmony alone can influence how music makes you feel, but only if it taps into your cultural background.
However, acoustic roughness, an important phenomenon which typically renders sounds unattractive for Western listeners, influenced the expression of anger regardless of participants’ backgrounds.

 

 

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